The Night of the Nephilim
by AFIgurl
Summary: AFI comes to Sunnydales High to play at the Homecoming Dance, with them, a deadly evil follows
1. Chapter1

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***I know for a fact what a Nephilim is and it's not the thing I've called the Nephilim in my story, but cut me some slack, I need it to be the Nephilim, just this once. Artistic license? BTW, this is my first attempt at writing fanfiction, so don't bitch.  
  
anyway...***  
  
**** AFI comes in at around chapter 4 ****  
  
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Chapter 1  
  
PATROL  
  
The quiet night was discerning, nothing stirred, the whole world was sleep. Buffy looked up at the sky, it was a full moon, Oz was in the second night of werewolf mode this month.  
  
It's been a strangely uneventful night, having come equipped with nine stakes, she's still counting nine.  
  
Nothing at all is happening, not even muggers. No sign of vampires in the four hours she's been patrolling. Shrugging, Buffy fought off a yawn and started to head home. She heard a rustling behind her, from the bushes.  
  
Startled and alert, she turned, stake aimed, ready to fight. But there was nothing there, looking around with narrowed eyes, Buffy scanned the entire length of the street. Still no sign of movement. Brushing it off as irrelevant, she walked on, looking forward to a good night's rest.  
  
Not more than half way down the block, she heard the noise again.  
  
"Ok," she whispered, turning round, hoping to catch whatever it was. This time, a red light flickered from a near by hedge. Freaked out slightly, she crept over to the hedge, stake raised, when all of a sudden a small dark form shot out from there and ran away towards the clump of run down warehouses. It was incredibly fast, even the Slayer couldn't run that fast, so Buffy stood and watched it, promising herself to look for it another time, when she wasn't so tired and has more information on this thing.  
  
NEXT DAY, SUNNYDALE HIGH  
  
"Hi Buffy!" called a cheerful looking Willow, today wearing a multicoloured stripy top and a red skirt, "How was patrol?"  
  
She fell into step with her friend as she walked up the driveway towards the front entrance. Today, Buffy was wearing a green baggy shirt over a black vest and blue jeans. Looking slightly dishevelled, she turned round to face Willow with a slight smile.  
  
"Hey," she said quietly. Sensing something wrong, Willow stopped walking and looked at Buffy worriedly.  
  
"Are you ok?" she asked, the reply she got was a small sigh.  
  
"Willow, can you help me with something?"  
  
"Yeah, of course, you know I will."  
  
At the moment, Xander ran up to the girls with a silly grin plastered to his face. "Hey, check this out, " he said, taking out a small finger skateboard from his pocket and attempted a complicated trick. When he succeeded, he grinned triumphantly. "See? See?"  
  
Buffy gave him a sidelong glance and smirked. "Veeeeery cute."  
  
Willow looked at him affectionately.  
  
Just then, Oz and Cordelia walked out from the library. Willow quickly redirected her gaze. "Hey," Oz said by way of greeting, stopping beside her, cradling a large cup of coffee. His hair was red this week, clashing slightly with his red t-shirt that had a large black King Adora logo.  
  
"Hey!" Willow replied, sounding way too perky for a student on a Monday morning. "How was last night?"  
  
"Vague," Oz said, vaguely.  
  
"Oh! Well…. err…at least you didn't kill anyone," Willow stuttered.  
  
Slowly, her boyfriend nodded, "Yeah… I guess that's always a plus."  
  
"Well…good!"  
  
"Please," interrupted Cordelia, "Is everyone forgetting something?" Whole gang turned to look at her, looking like a supermodel in her shimmering grey top and smart black skirt. All of them looked blank and preoccupied.  
  
"It's the homecoming!!" Maybe she was expecting a reply, but that she did not get. "Hello?" She looked at them, irritated.  
  
"So?" Buffy asked.  
  
Cordelia threw up her hands, flabbergasted. Just that moment, the first bell rang and she flounced off without saying another word.  
  
"I wonder what she's so upset about," Xander muttered.  
  
Slowly they trudged off to the demon dimension of physics, sitting down at the back table, they waited for the teacher to come. Buffy turned round and faced Willow, seeing that there was no teacher, she tells her about her patrol. After heating about the figure, Willow grew tense and looked at Xander who was busy practising finger skateboarding.  
  
"Xander! Did you hear that?" Willow scowled, punching him on the arm.  
  
"Ow! What?"  
  
"About the…you know…what Buffy saw."  
  
He tried very hard to look knowing, in the end failing and mumbled a quiet "Err…well, no."  
  
Just then the teacher walked in, putting an end to all conversations. Buffy gave them one last look and turned round to be absorbed in the world of atom formation. The bell for second period rang after what seemed like an eternity.  
  
Picking up her books, Willow walked over to Buffy; "See you in the library after the lesson, is that ok?" Nodding her agreement, Buffy made her way towards English Literature.  
  
LIBRARY  
  
"Hello Buffy," Giles called as she entered the library, "how was patrol?"  
  
She looked over and saw Willow sitting at the computer, eyes narrowed and fingers working tirelessly.  
  
"Fine," she answered, although something in her heart knew it was anything but fine. "It's been kinda quiet lately…. no vamps…. no evil."  
  
Willow looked up from the computer screen.  
  
"Oh, that's rather odd isn't it?" Giles muttered, as if to himself.  
  
"Giles, what's wrong? Some ancient prophecy I should know about?"  
  
"Oh, no, no, no…" was the reply. "Are you SURE that nothing happened?"  
  
Buffy looked over at Willow, who was looking very guilty. She sighed, "Well, if you MUST know, I saw a small figure behind a hedge." Giles looked very interested. "Don't get your hopes up, it's probably just a possum." Seeing the look on his face, she relented at last and told him what she saw in detail.  
  
"Very interesting," he mumbled when she has finished talking. "Tonight Buffy, will you please keep an eye out for this creature?"  
  
Pleased as she was getting off so lightly, Buffy smiled and nodded. "Two eyes even."  
  
The doors suddenly swung wide open and on the threshold stood a very angry looking Cordelia. Marching forwards, she looked like a warrior, a very sinister one at that, on steroids even.  
  
"CAN YOU BELIEVE?" she shrieked, seething with anger, "Amy McNally is running for Homecoming Queen?!"  
  
Yet again she got no response; Willow looking particularly confused.  
  
"AMY!!! The slimy little bitch! HOW CAN SHE?! How can she even think about stealing my crown?"  
  
"Well," reasoned Buffy, "technically, it's not yours yet." Immediately she regretted saying it for Cordelia fixed her deadly gaze upon her.  
  
"It…will…. be…. mine," she answered, marching out in a huff, so angry she nearly knocked Oz over as he came through the double doors with Xander in toll.  
  
"Whoa," Oz muttered, "what's the rush?"  
  
"Oh, she's just fussed about the homecoming thing again," Willow told him, trying not to look at Xander, who seems so adorably cute today.  
  
"Ah, that, the Dingoes has been trying to get the slot for the dance at the dance. Devon's managing that though, I'm clueless really," said Oz, shrugging slightly and giving everyone a partial grin. That's how it is with Oz, partial, you can never quite tell what he's thinking.  
  
"Cool!" Willow perked up with enthusiasm, "Good luck!"  
  
"I heard some say there was going to be a real band there," Xander put in absentmindedly, which immediately earned him a scowl from Buffy. Realising his slip, he quickly added "Signed, what's what I meant, yeah, signed."  
  
Oz shrugged again, "No big."  
  
"Well, if we can't have the Dingoes, I really hope we get Four Star Mary," Willow commented. Buffy nodded her agreement once more.  
  
"Nah," Xander drawled, "the Goths look way to happy for it to be Four Star Mary."  
  
Quietly to himself, Oz whispered "Wait and see." 


	2. Chapter2

Chapter 2  
  
THE BRONZE  
  
Buffy weaved her way through the dancing people with two lattes in her hand. After relocating her booth, she put the coffee down on the table and sat down heavily. She felt tired even though she has hardly needed to fight in the last week, tonight was no different, for the past three hours she had been on patrol, still nothing. Plus she hasn't seen Angel in almost just as long; she was starting to miss him.  
  
"Hey Buffy, why the long face?" Xander asked as he came bouncing up to her in time with the music, an up beat techno rock band was on stage tonight.  
  
"Nothing Xander, here, sit with me, you can have my latte if you want."  
  
Sitting down next to her, Xander picked up the latte and looked over at her. The goofy grin slipped from his face as he saw just how tired she looked. "Hey, are you ill?" he asked, concerned. Buffy managed a weak smile but felt too drained to speak.  
  
"Here," Xander said, taking off his jacket and handing it to her. "I'll walk you home." He stood up, gesturing for Buffy to do the same.  
  
"No, I'm fine really," she protested feebly, but did not object as he guided her towards the exit. Not more than two blocks away from the Bronze, they ran into Angel.  
  
"Buffy," he said by way of greeting, "I've been keeping an eye out for you, on the town, I mean. You look tired, you should get some rest."  
  
"Well Dead Boy, for your information, I was just taking her home," Xander cut in snidely, peeved at Angel for ignoring him. Why should Angel get the credit for suggesting some thing he has already put into action?  
  
Angel turned his dark, brooding glance onto Xander. "Don't let me stop you." To Buffy he said in a kind, gentle tone; "Things are quiet now, so don't worry." But still Buffy worried. Why exactly was it so quiet? Where are all the vampires? Any other person would probably be feeling glad but she knew that evil is never dead, she knew from experience and now, her experience told her that evil is just waiting, waiting for something big…  
  
SUMMERS RESIDENCE  
  
"Buffy!" Joyce Summers looked very surprised, "You're home early! It's barely half nine!" Her gaze fell onto Xander, who was standing awkwardly in the doorway. "Oh hello Xander." She gestured for him to come in.  
  
"Hi Mrs Summers." He remained on the doorway, indicating that he won't be staying long.  
  
"Hi mom, don't worry about me, I'll just do upstairs and do some homework. Bye Xander." Xander turned and left whist Buffy shuffled up the stairs towards her room. Straight away she collapsed on the bed and into a deep sleep, the first proper sleep she's had in about three weeks.  
  
Her door opened slightly ajar, Joyce looked inside and was very surprised to see her daughter asleep. She tucked the sheets up to her chin and kissed her on the forehead like she used to when Buffy was still small.  
  
NEXT MORNING  
  
Buffy woke up refreshed. Singing, she poured herself some OJ. Her mother smiled at her from behind a newspaper. "Hi honey, sleep well?"  
  
"Yep! And ready to face another day."  
  
Joyce felt a heavy weight lifted from her heart.  
  
"I'm off mum, don't wait up." Practically skipping, Buffy went to school to find the whole place in action. People everywhere putting up streamers and posters. At a closer look, she could see that it was for the homecoming dance. By the trophy cabinet hung a large poster of Cordelia, her perfect teeth framed by a wide friendly smile.  
  
At that moment, Cordelia herself entered into view, pointing and ordering about five juniors holding yet more posters. "Oh hi Buffy, phase one of my campaign… but if I want to be voted, I can't be seen to be hanging out with you," flashing her a smile, Cordelia walked off once more.  
  
"Harsh," came a quiet voice from behind her. Buffy turned round and saw Oz standing there, looking at her sympathetically. Miraculously, today, his hair was a bright electric blue.  
  
"Morning Oz," Buffy greeted him, determined not to let Cordelia the renewed bitch ruin her perkiness. Together, they headed towards the Quad where Willow and Xander were already seated.  
  
"Homecoming," Willow said to them, pulling a face at the decorated walls all around them, even in the courtyard, there were streamers and balloons and posters.  
  
"The music should be good, whoever it is, the school usually makes a big deal over the Homecoming dance," Oz noted, trying to cheer her up. Xander looked up suddenly from the snack bar he's been munching.  
  
"Didn't you get the slot?" he asked. Right on cue, Devon, the Dingoes' lead singer sauntered into view.  
  
"Hey Oz, we need to talk."  
  
Oz nodded and turned to face Devon. "Yeah?"  
  
"Dude, I know how much you wanted that slot at the dance…"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Well, they got some big shot band to do that instead. I'm sorry man, I did everything I could."  
  
Oz shrugged, "It's ok, no big."  
  
"So we cool?"  
  
"Sure. I wonder who is playing though…"  
  
LIBRARY, END OF LUNCH  
  
"Giles!" Xander called as he and the rest of the Scooby Gang entered the normally dimly lit, dull room, now covered in posters. He heard some muttering from the office.  
  
"What have they done?" it was distinctively Giles' voice; it was obvious from the accent.  
  
"Giles, what's up my man?"  
  
"Posters!" Giles gasped, pointing wildly at the posters adorning the library walls.  
  
"Yeah, I know, it'll be over soon, the dance is in three days, after that, it'll all go away." He snapped his fingers, "Just like that."  
  
"Thank God for that," Giles sighed, emerging at last from his office but still looking disgusted at the posters.  
  
"Wow, hey, check this out," Oz called from the other side of the room, standing in front of a large black poster nearly lost in the sea of colour around it. "It's the band that's playing at the dance," he explained, stepping aside for the others to see the poster.  
  
It was large, with a long stemmed red rose in the middle of a black background. The letters 'AFI' were printed under the rose in swirly Italic script. Oz, amazingly enough, was on the verge of looking excited.  
  
"Wow," was all he could manage to say. Willow looked slightly confused, as was Buffy, Xander and Giles. The others noticed that his normally pale skin was flushed; obviously, this was a big deal to him. Without saying another word and looking just a little dazed, he walked over to Willow.  
  
"Oz?" she inquired.  
  
"You'll see," was his reply. 


	3. Chapter3

Chapter 3  
  
PATROL, LATER THAT NIGHT  
  
"Angel, have you been picking up bad vibes about all this?" Buffy asked as they walked down yet another deserted street. Once again, there were no creatures of the night about.  
  
"It's too quiet," agreed Angel, outfitted in a black duster, black shirt and black trousers.  
  
"T-that's a g-good sign r-r-right?" Willow chirped with false enthusiasm, knowing the answer to that question all too well. This has happened before, a long spell of quiet and inactivity, it has never led to anything good. Oz reached out and held her hand, his calm warm strength passing into her. All of a sudden, her doubts slipped away and she was happy, but at the same time, she felt guilty. She looked over her shoulder at Xander, who was trailing behind them, dragging his feet.  
  
The whole gang was out tonight, mainly because there was nothing better to do. Oz was singing a song under his breath. Willow caught words like "weightless, endless, faithless I'll adore you." She's never heard those lyrics before but there was a great sadness in the words, one she cannot begin to describe.  
  
"Oz," she whispered.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Tell me something about AFI."  
  
Just then, Buffy halted suddenly, standing very still and gestured for the others to follow suit. In the faint moon light, they could see a dark shape a little in front of them Right before their eyes it began to change, it's spindly arms unfolding into large bat like ones, its eyes lengthening into horns, it's eyes large and giving out a red light.  
  
Noticing the five figures before it, it lifted its head and gave a loud cry, shrill and piercing, before sweeping off into flight, it's great wings darkening the moon. All that time, the Scooby Gang had stood frozen, in utter horror. They have never seen anything like it before in Sunnydale, which was saying quite a lot seeing as how they were on a Hellmouth and everything.  
  
Oz was the first one to break the silence. "That was weird," he muttered, looking over at Buffy, who was still stunned.  
  
"Buffy?" Willow looked very worried, Angel's face reflected her concern, he looked at the Slayer intently, in the end, he took off his duster and wrapped around her shoulders. "Come on, lets get out of here."  
  
With shaky steps they walked down the next three or four blocks without incident, but a little further on, they found a badly mangle body on the floor. Willow stopped dead, her breath caught in her throat, threatening to choke her, She recognised that body, it had been Billy Carson, a rather bookish kid who was in her economics class, just yesterday she had spoken to him, now… she couldn't bear to think about it. She buried her head in Oz's shoulder, utterly horrified.  
  
Angel took a step closer to the body, his face was still intact but his stomach had been cut open roughly, his insides were strewn all over the place, but unlike many corpses they've seen, this one didn't appear to be missing anything.  
  
Angel walked closer still, Buffy tentatively followed him. Xander looked very pale and sickly, he didn't turn round but didn't go any closer either.  
  
"Buffy…" Angel said quietly and gravely, "his heart is gone."  
  
Willow jerked at that and begun to sob. Oz put his arm around her protectively.  
  
"The blood is still fresh, he only died about a minute ago," Angel said to Buffy. She looked very scared.  
  
In a small voice hardly above a whisper, she said, "It was that thing, I know it…I…I…I could have stopped it." Oh my god, this is all my fault, why did I freak? I'm the Slayer!! This is all my fault, I'm sorry Billy, I didn't mean to… I'm sorry.  
  
"You can't blame yourself, it isn't your fault," Angel reasoned, as if you could read her mind.  
  
"No, it is, I could have stopped it, Angel, you don't understand, I just froze. I don't know why, I was so scared Angel, so scared. Just looking at it… Angel…" Buffy's eyes were wide, looking bewildered and sad. Angel tried to comfort her as Xander looked on helplessly. Willow stopped crying now but was still in shock, and as with Buffy, Oz was doing his best to calm her down.  
  
"Well, well, what do we have here?" said a familiar voice from behind them. Startles, they turned round to find none other than Spike himself standing in front of them in his usual black attire with the same bleach blonde hair.  
  
"Spike?" Buffy asked, regaining some composure.  
  
"Yes baby, I'm back."  
  
"Get out of my town." She's been having a very bad night already, she really didn't need this.  
  
"It's a free country, I can go where ever I want to go."  
  
"Not when I'm around," Buffy shot answered back. Swiftly moving forwards, she aimed a punch to his head, which he blocked, so she sent a roundhouse kick his way, which hit him squarely on the jaw.  
  
"Ow, bloody hell," Spike grumbled, but the ruthless blows are coming in thick and fast. At that moment, the winged creature appeared again out of nowhere. Once again, Buffy froze. The searing fear rippling through her like ice. Angel motioned for the others to go and they reluctantly agreed.  
  
Spike, renewed by this sudden change of fate, kicked the slayer in the chest, sending her flying. She landed with a heavy thud onto the hard concrete pavement. Spike rushed at her in full game face, an enraged Angel joined the fight just as the winged creature fluttered down. Spike retreated but Angel took a swing at it.  
  
His fist went right through it's wing, a sudden shock shot through his body. Surprised, he fell back, feeling drained. He noticed that the hole he had made in the creature's wing healed straight away. Not only had he done no damage to it, but he somehow managed to hurt himself for his hand was badly burnt.  
  
Seeing what this creature can do to even a vampire, Spike retreated and ran away. When he was a safe distance from the monster, he turned round and looked at the scene before him. The Slayer was on the floor, cowering from the monster that was looming over her like a menacing shadow, Angel was holding the hand he had hit the thing with, and he looked like he was in pain.  
  
"Looks like there's a new player in town," he chuckled, "bye bye Slayer." With that, he turned and walked off, leaving Buffy and Angel to face this deadly foe.  
  
"I can't believe we just left them there with that thing!" Willow cried; her face streaked with tears. She broke away from the circle and started to run back. Xander and Oz followed. They wanted to stop her but at the same time, they also wanted to help Buffy.  
  
They arrived not a minute too soon; the creature had its claws poised to strike with Buffy on the floor, unable to move.  
  
"HEY!" Willow shouted, forgetting her fear. The creature looked at her, her insides seized up but she raised her hand in a defiant way, in it, she held a bottle of holy water. Uncorking it, she threw the bottle at the creature, it shrieked as the liquid splattered it's hide, its cry so piercing Willow lowered her head and covered her ears.  
  
The monster shrank and a stream of smoke rose from it. Once again, it was the small rodent like creature again.  
  
Buffy stood up and saw it run away but it was still very fast and there was no way she could catch up with it in her weakened state.  
  
"Buffy?" Xander asked, tentatively touching her shoulder. She looked over at Angel, who was leaning against a tree, looking very tired. There was a massive burn on his hand.  
  
They looked at each other, making a silent agreement that it's time to leave. They've quenched the demon's evil shadow for that night and it wouldn't do anymore harm for the time being.  
  
Willow put an arm around Buffy, who smiled at her weakly and muttered a barely audible thank you. 


	4. Chapter4 (AFI enters story)

Chapter 4  
  
LIBRARY, NEXT MORNING  
  
"Giles," Buffy called, marching into the library with the Scooby Gang behind her, "You have work to do."  
  
"Yes?" Giles replied, coming out from his office, polishing his glasses. He put it on and once again, grimaced at the posters adorning his walls.  
  
"Major bad demon in town," she explained, "huge wings, black with red on the inside, horns, ugly, all that."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"GILES!! Info needed! NOW!"  
  
"Oh, alright," Giles said, pulling out a large, dusty leather bound book, Quickly skimming through the pages, Giles looked more and more anxious. He closed the book with a loud snap. After building up quite a collection of books on the table, he finally stopped, looked up and said "Ah."  
  
"What is it Giles?" Oz asked, anxious to know.  
  
"Well, um, it's not good, but don't panic, I may be wrong." Even as he said this, he felt nervous and was unwilling to share his news. He slowly nudged the book towards Oz. On it, a detailed picture of a winged bat like creature. "It's a nephilim," he said at last. "It's been around since the opening of the Hellmouth, maybe even before then, it's a very ancient creature. A fallen angel is the account in the Bible. A fallen angel that has been transformed into a shadow, a terrible creature that provokes fear and feeds off people's souls and hearts."  
  
He looked around the room; there was absolute silence. Finally, Buffy broke the silence. "Why is it here?"  
  
Giles sighed and polished his glasses once more. "I really don't know."  
  
COURTYARD  
  
"Hi, here, vote for me, Cordelia Chase to your new Homecoming Queen," beamed Cordy, wearing a short red dress and flashing smiles at everyone that walked past her.  
  
"Hey Cordy, I see you're really getting into this," Xander commented, jogging to meet her.  
  
"Well duh, even if I can be Homecoming Queen without trying, I still would because I'm not that kind of person," she gave him a withering look and handed a leatfet to a passing student. "You see, scum, because of you, I have been stripped of my unblemished status as--"  
  
"Little miss popular?" Xander cut it, "big head?" He was seriously peeved at her for the time being. How can she be so selfish and inconsiderate? There is a deadly evil in town, one that Buffy may not be able to fight.  
  
"How dare you?" Cordelia hissed, "You and your little gang has never done anyone any good. Look at Amy, Theresa, Miss Calendar, I wish you were never born." She turned and stormed off, stopping every now and then to give out campaign leaflets.  
  
"Good, leave, see if I care," Xander shouted after her. But deep down inside, he did care, Willow had Oz and Buffy had Angel, he couldn't help but feel incredibly lonely. He can't deny that he did, indeed, have feelings for Cordelia, but right now, he was too angry to admit to that.  
  
Just then, four figures dressed in black caught his eye, three of them had black hair and the fourth was bleach blond, even more so than Spike. Guiding them around was a teacher, looking rather apprehensive. The blond one looked around the yard and turned back to his guide. Trying to look normal, Xander wandered over to where they were standing, from here, he could see them all very clearly. The one at the front was tall with short black hair. He had long muscular arms and a friendly smile on his face.  
  
The second guy also had dark hair, was quite tall with barely visible sideburns. The third was the man with the blonde hair, looking rather out of place but at the same time fitting in perfectly. However, the fourth figure was the most intriguing, he was slightly shorter than the rest with jet black hair, short at the back with long locks at the front hanging over his eyes, which were outlined with black eyeliner. He had a ring through his lower lip and his bare arms were completely covered in tattoos. His skin was abnormally pale and over all, he gave off an aura of mystery.  
  
As would be expected, the foursome drew quite a large crowd already, some looked confused, some surprised, some ecstatic and most just curious. The teacher who was acting as a guide shooed off the gathering students, who scattered but didn't go far. When the foursome was out of sight, the chatter began instantly. As Xander made his way through the crowd, he caught sentences like: "Did you see the weird guy?", "So is that the band?", "I can't wait," and "The blond one is pretty cute." At the last voice, he turned and saw Cordelia in the back, giggling and talking to her old friend Harmony. Xander rolled his eyes, knowing she won't be able to resist a chance like this... a famous band, a cute bassist... no more need be said.  
  
Soon enough, Xander saw Oz coming out from the library. "Hey Oz, did you see them? I think the band's on campus."  
  
Although Oz's expression didn't change, his green eyes lit up with an almost eerie light. "Cool," he said, "where?"  
  
"They were heading towards the auditorium when I last saw them."  
  
"Thanks man, by the way, you're wanted in the library." Xander was temporarily comforted by those words, the knowledge that he is not totally unwanted third wheel guy. He pushed through the swinging doors to be greeted by the worried faces of Giles, Buffy and Willow.  
  
"Xander," Willow started, "I think you should maybe keep off the streets for the next few days, we've found out what the thing we saw was." She looked very pale and scared. Xander didn't really want to know what it was they found.  
  
Bracing himself, he swallowed and said, "Tell me."  
  
"It's a nephilim, Xander," Giles explained. "It's sightings were few and infrequent, the one recorded here," he gestures to his book, "was exactly five hundred years ago. It appeared in the town of Louisiana, at the very beginning of the founding fathers and the pilgrimages. America then was a young land, a new land to the travellers. But far before then, the Hellmouth was formed, creatures from the dark depths of the underworld escaped to haunt the land above, the living and the mortal. There was a Hellmouth in Louisiana and the people there knew about it. Every now and then, a demon of terrible power would rise from it's depths, it has never been recorded before in American hand, but I have found records in old Greek scriptures. Two in fact, at five hundred year intervals. The earliest records of nephilims are in the Bible, Genesis Six."  
  
Xander reeled back at this, the Bible? Ok, old dusty books he can handle, but the Bible? Now that's just weird. "So it's a pretty mainstream demon right?"  
  
Giles looked at him, surprised at his light tone. "Yes, I suppose." He pushed his glasses up. "It can't survive by itself, every five hundred years, a human is born who has the power to support this demon, in another words, they are strong enough to act as a host to it. The demon feeds off its host and in return, the host is in some ways powered by the demon. The host may not realise who they are or what's going on. The only way to kill this demon is to kill the host."  
  
At this, Willow spoke up, "But yesterday, it got pretty peeved at a little bit of Holy water."  
  
"Yes, it hurts it, but not greatly, it'll just return the next day, stronger than before."  
  
Willow went very pale at this news. She didn't say anything else and turned away.  
  
"So I guess my job now is to find the host," Buffy concluded. She was relived that she didn't have to fight the thing, not after her past experiences.  
  
"Buffy, you do realise that the host can be anyone right?" Xander inquired.  
  
"Sure I do, that's why you guys are going to help me out." 


	5. Chapter5

Chapter 5  
  
AFI TOUR VAN  
  
"Dude, this is going to be rad," Jade's voice rung out through the silence. It was late and they've just spent the day touring the school. Seeing the excited faces of the students was still quite a new thing for them. Although they're a relatively low profile band, they're still hot stuff in a close-knit community like Sunnydale.  
  
Davey looked up from the book he was reading and gave Jade a small smile, amused at his excitement. It wasn't the first time they've played at a school dance, but it is, however, the first time they played at a school dance without begging to do so. Adam, the drummer, was at the front of the van, playing poker with Smith, one of their tour guys. Hunter, the bassist, had gone out to get some food.  
  
Not knowing his way in even a small town like this, he soon returned and said sheepishly "Err, guys, I can't seem to find any decent restaurants." Jade laughed at him and called him a dork but Adam, being hungry, got slightly annoyed with his friend.  
  
"I'll come with you, ya know, to make sure that you don't fall into a ditch or something, seeing as how dumb you're acting right now."  
  
Davey, being rather bored and cramped in the van, took this opportunity to get out and get some fresh air. "Hey guys, I'm coming too." He climbed out the door, leaving Jade and Smith to their poker game.  
  
The streets were dark and his black clothes blended into the background. There weren't many people around and it was very quiet. After wandering aimlessly for about an hour (the food was forgotten), they, came across a body on the floor, now that wasn't something you see everyday. Hunter gasped and backed away with his hand over his mouth, being a vegan makes you sensitive to those kinds of things.  
  
Hardly a minute later, a short blond girl no more than eighteen years old ran up to where they were standing with an entourage of three other people. Davey saw that two of them were male, one young; probably the same age as the girl, the other guy was older and taller than all the rest. The fourth person was another girl, young with red hair. They hardly seemed to notice them, looking intently at the body, the tall man said, "It's done it again." All of them looked very grave but they also had a knowing look, obviously they knew what was going on.  
  
"Excuse me," Adam said quietly, the blonde girl looked up suddenly, her startled expression telling him that they haven't noticed them before then. Before she has had the chance to reply, a black shadow swooped down at them. Adam and Hunter threw themselves onto the ground, as did the five strangers. Davey, however, didn't move. He stood transfixed on the spot, looking at the creature in fascination.  
  
"Get down!" the blonde girl shouted at him, panicked, "it's a nephilim, it'll kill you!" Still, Davey did not respond, he didn't feel the fear that the others did, but before he could do anything, he felt strong arms around him, pulling him down, out of the nephilim's way. It let out a cry and swooped away into the night.  
  
Immediately, the blonde girl stood up and dusted herself off. She offered a hand to her companions and lastly to the band members. She looked at Davey in a very annoyed kind of way. "Did you realise what that thing was?!" she practically shouted at him, angry at how he could put his life on the line like that.  
  
"Yes, it's a nephilim," Davey replied, irritated at her attitude. The girl went very quiet and looked him in the eye, suspicious.  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
"You just told me."  
  
She took a step back, looking him up and down, taking in his weird hair, his black clothes, his dark makeup. "Hey, aren't you with the band?"  
  
"Yes." He turned round to look at Adam and Hunter. Seeing Hunter almost half a block away, looking like he was going to throw up, he suddenly remembered the body on the floor. "What are you going to do about that?" he asked the blonde.  
  
She sighed, "Nothing, I can't answer all the questions they're going to ask." Looking at him again, she said "I'm Buffy, these are my friends Xander, Angel and Willow."  
  
"Davey, Adam and Hunter," he said, gesturing towards Hunter.  
  
"You want to go to the Bronze? We can show you around the town if you want," Xander piped up, determined not to be left out.  
  
"Yeah, sure, why not? But I have to go get Jade and Smith, they're still in the van." So they left and headed back towards the van. Jade opened the door eagerly, obviously waiting for the food. "Hey, we're going to some club called The Bronze, we can get some food there." Jade and Smith piled out enthusiastically.  
  
"Hey, who are they?" Jade asked when he saw the Scooby Gang.  
  
Davey introduced them to the Scooby Gang, "They saved us from a nephilim," he said cheerfully. Jade looked at him knowingly.  
  
"Aren't you guys, like, freaked? I mean, you just got attacked by a demon and you're just carrying on as if nothing has happened," Xander pointed out. Hunter shuddered slightly at the memory.  
  
"We would be, but we're seen so much already, vampires, zombies, witches, dragons, ya know, all that weird stuff you meet whilst touring the world. No one believes us of course, we tend to keep ourselves to ourselves," Jade explained. His band mates murmured their agreement.  
  
"Wow, I guess we don't have anything to hide then," Willow mused. Angel looked at her sharply. "Err…I mean…"  
  
"So you guys are used to this sort of thing?" Buffy asked, relieved that she doesn't have to explain everything.  
  
"Yeah, sure, I mean, we've been attacked by a witch once, and Davey nearly got killed three times before," Hunter told them, "I guess we just attract that sort of thing because we've got a dark image but, hell, it can get really irritating at times."  
  
Willow smiled sympathetically. It's nice to know that someone else in the world knows about all the supernatural things that are going on, it restored some of her faith in humanity. It was still rather strange that they made so light of the situation but then again, from what they've said, it's probably just another day on the road for them.  
  
BRONZE  
  
"So what are you guys up to?" Xander asked as he sat down on a comfy chair next to Adam in the Bronze, trying to strike up a conversation. In front of them were nine cups of coffee and four plates of salad, seeing as how Hunter and Jade were vegan and Adam and Willow were vegetarian. Jade and Smith were both absentmindedly nibbling jam doughnuts, listening to the music. Oz's band, Dingoes Ate My Baby, was playing tonight and they pulled together quite a big crowd. Hunter nodded his head in time to the music, looking very contented.  
  
"This band is rad," he said to no one in particular, still nodding. Willow looked ecstatic.  
  
"My boyfriend's in that band," she told him, grinning from ear to ear, "he's the guitarist, see? Blue hair." She caught Oz's attention and gave him a small wave. When the music reached a pause, he waved back.  
  
"Hey cool," Hunter replied.  
  
Twenty minutes lkater, two coffees each and five songs later, Oz came over to their table. "Hey," he said, and then introduced himself to the band and Smith. Devon came over and met up with everyone.  
  
"You know what would by, like, totally cool?" he asked.  
  
Davey knew what was coming up. "You want us to play a song?"  
  
Devon nodded eargerly, "Yeah dude, I've never heard your music before, how about?"  
  
Jade looked at Davey, who in turn looked at Hunter and Adam. "Why not?" So an unspoken agreement was made, AFI would play tonight, at the Bronze, special treat.  
  
"Alright," Davey answered at last. Devon practiacally skipped up to the stage to announce the band's performance.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "please welcome some very special guests, AFI! Just for tonight, they're gonna play a few songs for us!" Everyone clapped, cheering as the foursome took to the stage, not because they liked them, since most people didn't know who they were or just vaguely recalled their name, but because they liked the Dingoes and hung on to Devon's every word.  
  
Picking up the Dingoes' instruments, AFI launched into one of their newer, more upbeat songs, Total Immortal. Davey, who had seemed so quiet and calm before was transformed into the person they saw onstage now, intense, passionate, energetic and completely mental. His voice was magnificent, clear and strong, never missing a note.  
  
His band mates matched his standard, tight, loud and fast. Adam was so amazing that the Dingoes drummer just stared at him in awe, amazed that his drum kit can produce such music. The crowd really got into it, some wildly jumping around, some forming a mosh pit and others just staring transfixed what's happening on stage.  
  
Hunter leapt about the platform, doing back flips and playing bass at the same time yet never missing a note. Jade was also on an all time high. Finishing Total Immortal, they waited for the applause to die down and kicked straight into A Winter's Tale, finishing the short set on the slowing, moving melodies of God Called In Sick Today;  
  
"I can't stand my laughter as they cry.  
  
My soul brings tears to angelic eyes.  
  
And miles away my mother cries.  
  
Omnipotence, nurturing malevolence."  
  
The band put down their instruments and headed off the stage. The crowd erupted into wild applause; Devon stared at Davey with his mouth hanging open. "Dude…." he spluttered but managed to say no more. In Sunnydale, he's always been considered a good singer, one of the best even, in the local clan, but no way can his voice match the fury and intensity Davey possesses. "Dude…" he muttered again and walked away, trance like.  
  
Adam grinned, "This place has a pretty cool atmosphere," he commented, "a real good buzz"  
  
Buffy, in the meantime, had forgotten all her worries and was contented to listen to the band talk when all of the a sudden, her Slayer senses told her that something was wrong. Getting up, she headed for the exit without another word. Angel noticed this and followed her out of concern. He hoped it wasn't bad news like the Nephilim, his hand was bandaged but it still hurt like hell. 


	6. Chapter6

Chapter 6  
  
BRONZE  
  
All this time, whilst the others were talking and laughing, Davey was quickly getting bored. Being the introverted one, he felt left out and slipped out silently to get some fresh air. The matter of the nephilim was still on his mind. Now that it was over, he wondered why he didn't dive for cover when all the others did. As he was thinking this, he heard a scream coming from around the corner. Instinctively, he ran to where the scream had came from.  
  
To his horror, he saw a young girl, probably no more than seventeen, standing there, face to face with what was unmistakably the demon they saw earlier. It's red eyes seemed to hold her in place, staring straight at her, into her soul.  
  
Her soul, he thought, that's strange, she isn't screaming, It was the girl behind the dumpster who screamed, probably her friend. Shit, that thing's sucking her soul right out of her.  
  
That final thought angered him, he was angry at himself for just standing there when someone's life was in danger, angry at himself for letting this take place and not doing anything about it. Without thinking, he dived at the demon, breaking its eye contact with the girl. But as with angel, he found that upon contact with the creature, his bare skin was burnt, the demon was like fire to the touch. The previously immobile girl was now fully revived, seeing the nephilim, she screamed and ran away with her friend close behind her.  
  
Just you and me now, Davey thought, his arm and hand throbbing with the pain of a burn. Strangely enough, the demon didn't attack him, it just looked at him in an almost pitying way and shrank away into a line of smoke.  
  
"Davey!" Buffy called, seeing him alone in the back alley of the Bronze. She had come out on a hunch and didn't really notice anything wrong, well, until she saw him. She didn't realised he had left the Bronze, so quiet was his departure. "Davey?" she said again, "what are you doing here?" Angel came up behind her.  
  
"I was out for some air," he answered feebly, in the dark and with so many tattoos, she couldn't see the burn on his arm, but he can feel the pain and grimaced slightly. Angel looked at him, knowing he was hiding something.  
  
"You saw it didn't you?" Angel asked, not totally sure how he knew.  
  
Davey looked up sharply, "How did you know?"  
  
Angel shrugged, "I can sense it." Buffy looked at Davey intently, trying to get him to tell her the truth. In reality, Davey himself didn't know why he was trying to cover up what had happened, he was confused at why the nephilim didn't try to attack him, why it gave him that look.  
  
"I don't know," he said at last, "it happened so fast, it's gone, it- it just disappeared." He felt tired, never in all the touring he had done had he felt so drained. The pain in his arm was making him feel dizzy and in the end, under Buffy and Angel's scrutinizing gazes, he sank onto the floor and brought his knees up to his chin, unconsciously rocking back and forth lightly.  
  
Buffy knelt down beside him, looking concerned. He didn't seem to notice her so she put her hand on his arm in a comforting way. He flinched as if her touch was red hot, causing her to quickly remove her arm. She noticed that he was shaking, his shoulders hunched up and his face hidden.  
  
"Hey! There you are!" a loud voice cut through the darkness. Davey recognised the voice as Adam's but he did not look up. "Davey? You ok?"  
  
Davey mumbled something inaudible and continued to ignore him. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he looked up, his face was streaked with black.  
  
"Dude," Smith mumbled, "something wrong?" Davey shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. Shakily, he tried to get up and Hunter offered him a hand. Again, he flinched at the pain where Hunter touched his hand.  
  
Adam and Smith exchanged worried glances. The drummer took a step closer to his friend and asked "Did you even notice that he was gone?"  
  
Smith shook his head and looked at Adam again, "I thought he was still in there, weird huh?" Adam shrugged slightly and took a cigarette from his pocket and lighted it.  
  
Meanwhile, back inside the Bronze, Willow and Xander were discussing supernatural experiences with Jade.  
  
"So I take it that you guys have seen quite a lot?" Jade inquired.  
  
Xander nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, you know, vampires, apocalypse demons, lots of them around at the moment. Erm… witches, mummies, zombies…but those are the common movie monsters. More often than not we get something rare… like tonight for instance."  
  
"Xander even dated an Incan mummy once, erm, and a giant praying mantis," Willow added.  
  
"What about you? Robot, werewolf? Very normal much?" Xander retorted.  
  
"Whoa guys, don't start."  
  
"What about you?" Xander asked Jade, "What have you guys seen?"  
  
"Probably not as much as you two but we've met our fair share of ghosts and stuff. Once, some witch tried to steal our souls or something, that was kinda weird. We met a sand demon when we went to Australia and a history of other weird occurrences." Jade stopped to think for a while. Willow and Xander looked at him eagerly, wanting to hear more. "That's more or less it…"  
  
"Cool," Xander muttered, "nice to know that we are not the only ones who feel this whole nature vibe." Willow nodded.  
  
"Yep, it's the evil that keeps on giving."  
  
Jade smiled at Xander's last comment, "Yeah, nice to know."  
  
Nodding again, Willow stood up and walked over to the counter to order yet another cup of coffee. As she approached the counter, she caught site of Buffy coming through the door, closely followed by Angel and the rest of the band.  
  
"Buffy!" she called, gesturing to the bartender, in a question of whether or not she wanted more latte. Buffy shook her head and sat down at the booth with Jade and Xander. Willow took her coffee and quickly rejoined them.  
  
"Hey! You're back!" she stated, when Adam interrupted.  
  
"Yeah, but not for long, guys, I think we should go…the dance is tomorrow and we need to get some rest."  
  
"Sounds reasonable," Xander muttered and stole Willow's mocha. Jade stood up and joined his band mates.  
  
"Wee, see you round."  
  
The band and Smith left the Bronze and Xander started bombarding the Slayer with questions, "Where did you go? You didn't even tell us."  
  
Buffy shrugged in reply, too wrapped up in her thoughts to bother answering him. "Maybe we should go too," and without waiting for a reply, she got up and that more or less decided it.  
  
"Need a ride?" came a quiet voice from behind them. Willow jumped but soon relaxed again, realizing it was Oz.  
  
"It's ok, I'll go with Angel" the slayer said. Oz turned to look at Willow and Xander, who nodded gratefully and they left the Bronze together. 


	7. Chapter7

Chapter 7  
  
AFI motel room  
  
"That was some heavy shit tonight," Hunter commented, lying on his bunk and trying to forget the events that took place outside the Bronze. The rest of the band murmured their agreement.  
  
"Dude, I swear, no one ever told us this place was gonna be so twisted," Jade sighed and looked over at Davey, who was staring at the ceiling, even though it was pitch black. He felt concerned for the singer, he's been even quieter than usual since he arrived at Sunnydale. He hasn't said anything since they left the Bronze.  
  
Hunter turned over to look at Davey, also worried. "Dave? What happened out there tonight?" He got no reply so he repeated his question. Still Davey made no reply. He was still staring at the ceiling, breathing slowly and trying to block out the voice of his bandmates.  
  
"Let him get some rest," Adam put in, startling everyone for they thought that he was asleep. "You too Jade, you all need to sleep or we won't be able to play at the dance tomorrow." Taking in his words, Jade and Hunter stopped talking and were soon sound asleep.  
  
He was in a dark, endless corridor being chased by a faceless shadow. No matter how much he runs he always seemed to end up in the same place. The floor was hard stone and very bumpy, rough and decomposing. He felt like he was running for ever, the shadow never gave up its pursuit and in the end, he wondered what would happen if he just let himself be caught up with. His instincts were on red alert, all he wanted to do was get out.  
  
The darkness stretched out in front of him and he fell down and in that one moment, the shadow caught up and swallowed him whole. He struggled and fought but it was all around him. Realizing he couldn't breathe, Davey felt a hand on his shoulder. He screamed and twisted in his invisible prison, determined to escape.  
  
"Davey, DAVEY!! Wake up now!!"  
  
Groggily, he turned over, he had been sleeping on his stomach with his face buried in the pillow. "Mmmm?"  
  
"Nevermind, you were having a bad dream, it's four in the morning."  
  
Davey opened his eyes slightly and saw Adam standing by his bed. "Hey," he murmured and went back to sleep.  
  
NEXT MORNING  
  
Hunter pulled the duvet over his head as Smith hit his arm again. "Gerrof," he protested from under the layers of cloth.  
  
"Dude, it's nine," Smith countered, hitting his arm once more and went over to the door where Jade, Adam and Davey were already waiting.  
  
"Ok, ok, I'm up." Hunter hurled himself out of bed, threw on a black tshirt and black jeans. He shot into the bathroom and came out five minutes later, perfectly ready.  
  
"Whoa, I never knew you could be so fast," Davey commented.  
  
"Well, yeah, 'cos I don't have to put on makeup and such," the bassist smirked, earning himself another punch on the arm, "ow, ok, let's go."  
  
So the quintet filed out the motel and trooped down to the Espresso Pump. The sky was clear and sunny, a perfect blue with fluffy white clouds.  
  
"Eew, sun," Davey whined and put up his black parasol again. The others laughed.  
  
"Look Davey! A cloud that looks just like a turkey!" Hunter exclaimed, pointing at the sky.  
  
The streets were pretty much empty seeing as how it was a working day. The people that were out gave them weird looks, especially to Davey, who was still the most unusual one there, even though he wasn't wearing any makeup.  
  
In the Espresso Pump, the band ordered coffee and doughnuts. "We need to get to the school at four for a sound check, the dance begins at six." Smith reeled off.  
  
"Relax, that's seven hours away," Adam mumbled, mouth full of doughnut.  
  
"I kind of want to go to the library, you know, check out the history of this town, might be interesting." Davey suggested.  
  
"Oh, you are so BORING!!" Hunter moaned, hitting his head on the table, "Come on! There's gotta be better things to do than that." Jade looked sceptical. "Please don't go to the library, please?"  
  
Davey smiled slightly, "I won't be long, promise." He tilted his head and looked at his friends pleadingly.  
  
"Oh, alright." Resigned, Hunter followed the others out and slumped towards the library.  
  
SUNNYDALE HIGH  
  
"You can't wear that tonight," Cordelia sneered, giving Harmony's dress a sidelong glance. "I'm wearing that colour, you're going to have to change." Without waiting for a reply, she stomped off to the library.  
  
"Buffy?" Giles called hopefully, sticking his head out the office.  
  
"No Giles, it's me, I dress better than her." Cordelia pulled out a chair and sat down, noisily tapping her long fingernails on the large mahogany desk.  
  
"Ahem, why exactly are you here may I ask?" Giles inquired, wiping his glasses.  
  
"It's a public place," she retorted.  
  
"Y-y-yes, I suppose, but I have to say, I don't normally see you here."  
  
"I'm here now." 


End file.
